Razer Nabu hopes to take on Galaxy Gear and Nike Fuelband

Gaming giant unleashes its smartband

The Razer Nabu has arrived to challenge Samsung and Sony's smartwatches and the fitness bands to boot, with the gaming firm's smartband offering dual notification OLED screens.

It's fair to say that smartwatches have yet to hit critical mass, despite widespread interest in the devices, but Razer is hoping that it can lure people away from the major manufacturers with Nabu.

Offering both an easily visible notifications screen and a more private message screen, the Nabu tracks a wealth of personal data including steps walked, distance travelled and sleep quality as well as location information.

Dual-screen

The 32 x 32 pixel notification screen and the 128 x 32 pixel private message screen are joined on the specs sheet by Bluetooth 4.0 LowEnergy connectivity and a suggested 7 day battery life.

The band has an accelerometer, altimeter and cylindrical vibration motor, and it's rain and splashproof.

The only price available just now is the developer cost of $49 (c£30/AU$54) and the Razer Nabu release date has been set at the first quarter of 2014.

Whether it can actually take on the might of companies like Samsung and Sony in the smartwatch category, or for that matter the Nike Fuelband SE remains to be seen.